The Taming of the Queue

When members of the UVA research community submit sponsored program proposals, those proposals, and the resulting awards, as well as various post award requests go into a pipeline for processing by the pre award team. This pipeline, often referred to as the queue, has long been stuffed with up to several hundred transactions at a time. In an attempt to work through the backlog, pre award team members have sometimes been able to make admirable headway, but the actions have always piled up once more, seemingly insurmountable.

Until now.

In the last four months, the pre award team has not only focused diligently on the speedy processing of the queue

but also, they’ve tackled the underlying processes that cause the delays and backlogs.

The team has implemented process improvements for certain types of transactions, like the implementation of the ePRF, and then began to work on different types of transactions, making big process changes even while they “kept the trains moving” in the queue.

Kelly Morrison, Director of Pre Award, said the team’s focus was shoring up basic business processes, adding checklists and appropriate levels of review, and removing bottlenecks in the workflow. Morrison also re-evaluated staff roles during this process, making sure that not only did they have enough staff, but also, that the right people were doing the right jobs for their skill sets.

“The focus in the past had been just pushing through transactions,” Morrison said, explaining further that the problem with that approach was that haste made for errors that had to be corrected later on, slowing the process.

Morrison said that even though additional review and checklists might sound counterintuitive when the aim is to speed up a process, taking the time to make sure things are done correctly the first time has produced big, sustainable results for the team: they’ve seen a 70% drop in the number of actions in the queue.

Investing in Managers: UVAFinance Management Development Program begins second cohort

A Gallup poll of over 1 million employed US workers concluded that the number one people quit their jobs is because of issues with their immediate supervisor. Gallup also determined that poor management results in work groups that are on average 50 percent less productive and 44 percent less profitable than well-managed groups.

The recognition of how much is at stake when it comes to properly training managers to manage was the inspiration behind UVAFinance’s partnership with the Center for Leadership Excellence to launch the Management Development Program (MDP), a year-long course for UVAFinance managers.

The course curriculum includes three components: 360 feedback, four skills development sessions, and individualized leadership coaching. This January, the first cohort of 18 managers will graduate. The second cohort of 13 managers has already begun the program.

Calling all UVAFinance artists: Help make our office space beautiful!

You may have noticed that there are lots of blank walls around Carruthers Hall. To help make our environment more pleasing, we’re calling on UVAFinance team members to consider submitting original artwork or photography for display, so we can showcase their talents and brighten up our space!

The UVAFinance Employee Engagement Committee is seeking images that capture UVA, Charlottesville, and/or the surrounding area (Grounds, nature, sights, etc.).

Total Supplier Management: Automation, Integration, and Improved Experience for Procurement Customers and Vendors

Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services has been working to implement a new portal invoicing system to replace Transcepta. The portal represents one step toward in an ongoing initiative to streamline the procure-to-pay process, called Total Supplier Management (TSM), a tool that will streamline and automate vendor registration and payment. TSM will provide benefits to both vendors and UVA customers.

The invoice portal provides automation to our vendors. Electronic invoices mean increased payment discounts and increased accuracy. Schools and units will also benefit from the clear PO and invoice visibility they have within the portal. Because of error reduction and being able to track their documents, vendors won’t have to contact departments with payment questions.

ResearchUVA is changing the way we pursue, manage and think about sponsored programs, and we’re seeing the results!

The business of research at UVA includes more than $1B in proposal activity and $370M in awards annually, and the latest results from the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) Survey results show strategic investment in research infrastructure, including ResearchUVA, is paying off as UVA moves up the rankings. Read more about the HERD results here.

Changes to food purchase categories in ExpenseUVA

“Catering” is a frequently-chosen category within ExpenseUVA for food purchases, but most UVA food purchases are actually within the category of “business meals.” The distinction is even more important now, as “catering” will no longer be a reimbursable category after January 1, 2018. The Travel & Expense team encourages ExpenseUVA users to review the food purchase categories available within the system.

 Please see http://www.procurement.virginia.edu/pagetravelbusinessmeals for a breakdown of the categories, including examples.

From "a mess" to managed: ASG Team wins award for Carruthers cleanup

Connie Alexander, Stacey Rittenhouse,
and Patrick Wood of ASG, receive
recognition from Caroline Walters
 of Records Management.

This summer, the Administrative Services Group within UVAFinance partnered with UVA Records Management to address the Carruthers Hall basement storage area. Long-neglected, the area was a mess of boxed records, old filing cabinets, and a hodge-podge of junk. All in all, the cleanup effort saw 931.25 cubic feet of material  destroyed and 1309 cubic feet sent to storage.

This fall, the seven weeks of hard work the team put in was recognized at the 2017 ISPRO Conference whey they were awarded the Records Management Award. Records Management staff lauded the team for having a strong “plan of attack” for the project, having high-level support and communication, and great attitudes and cooperation during the massive effort.

Read more about the cleanup effort here.


Congratulations, ASG!

Holiday Staffing in UVAFinance

This year's holiday break at UVA runs from 12/25/2017 - 1/1/2017.  During that time, Carruthers Hall will be closed.

See below for UVAFinance staffing during break:

Student Financial Services:  A greeting on the main phone line will direct callers to leave a message if their need is urgent.  The mailbox will be monitored periodically during break and staff will respond accordingly.  Emails received will be sent an auto-reply directing the sender to call the main phone line for information on how to leave a message for a faster response. 

Finance Outreach and Compliance: Listserv will be monitored for emergency issues.

Office of Export Controls:  Listserv will be monitored for emergency issues.




This post will be updated as further departmental details become available. 

UVAFinance welcomes James Gorman to leadership team

James Gorman is no stranger to managing large-scale change. He has been involved in major change initiatives, project and portfolio management, and strategic planning at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan, and has served as a business analyst at Ford Motor Company. A Six Sigma Green Belt, Gorman also has a Project Management Professional certification and an MBA from the University Of Michigan Ross School Of Business.

His background will serve him well now that he has joined UVAFinance as Senior Director for Finance Strategic Projects. In this role, Gorman will manage and coordinate UVAFinance project management processes and functions and lead process improvement teams, and will take a leadership role as the organization looks toward Finance Strategic Transformation.

Gorman says he was attracted to the role because it spoke to his passion: working with people and helping them solve problems. 

“The best thing about my career has been that I get to interact with people of diverse mindsets and backgrounds, all of whom have different ways of approaching problems,” he says.

“I learn from almost every interaction I have with someone, and it’s that continued personal and professional development that drives me.”

Besides the good fit he saw in the job description, Gorman was also excited at the opportunity to work at UVA.

“It’s a highly ranked institution and frankly, a phenomenal place,” he says, adding that as he met people from UVA during the interview process, he became more engaged and attached to the idea of coming to work here.

At the time of this article, Gorman has been on the job nearly a week, and he already likes what he sees. “There are great leaders within the finance organization,” he observes.

“They’re passionate about what they do, they care, and they’re putting thought, effort and resources into finding the root causes of the challenges they’re facing.”

In addition to getting to know his colleagues in UVAFinance, Gorman has been venturing out across Grounds to meet finance stakeholders in an effort to better understand the initiatives already underway and ones set to begin, as well as what’s working well and where the challenges are.

The key thing to any successful change, he says, is getting people involved from every aspect of the process. “We want a future state that works better for everybody,” he says.

“Helping the people in organizations come together to solve problems and make things work better is what I enjoy doing,” he says.



“I look forward to being a part of that here at UVA.”

A Team Effort: Student Financial Services supports UVA's student-athletes

797 student-athletes,

70 student scouts and managers,

23 sports,

566 contacts in 2016,

629 contacts to date this year . . . 

. . . and 3 very flexible Athletic Financial Aid professionals in Student Financial Services.

Valerie Clem, Almanita Graves, and Sharlene Sajonas work in Student Financial Aid, focusing on Athletic Aid, and they love what they do. Balancing two office locations, two teams of colleagues, and understanding the ins and outs of 23 different sports, working nights, weekends, and odd hours, the three agree that all of the craziness is worth it when they see a student-athlete they’ve worked with excel at their sport or in the classroom.

Just as student-athletes must work hard to strike a balance between their studies and the sport they play, Clem, Graves, and Sajonas have to exert a lot of effort to make sure those students have what they need to be successful at UVA . . . and they have to do it quickly, and sometimes at a moment’s notice.

Almanita Graves and Valerie Clem of Student Financial 
Services work with student-athlete Juwan Moye.

“There is a huge compliance piece and sometimes incredible urgency when you need to certify a student-athlete's eligibility to compete” Sajonas comments. She says with all student-athletes have to worry about: academic and athletic demands, and sometimes personal situations, financial aid shouldn’t be in the forefront.

To make the financial aid process less worrisome to students, Sajonas, Clem, and Graves split their time between the Student Financial Aid offices in Carruthers Hall and the Athletics Compliance offices in McCue Hall.

The team’s presence in McCue mean that student-athletes don’t have to come to Carruthers to do paperwork and get their questions answered, and it also allows the team to work closely with coaches, grad assistant coaches, and colleagues in the athletics department (especially, says Sajonas, Eric Baumgartner and Rob Slavis in Athletics Compliance).

Clem says that no matter where she is for the day, she keeps a copy of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) manual on her desk for reference at all times.

“You have to explain all the NCAA bylaws on financial aid to student-athletes, and financial aid is such a weird language in itself,” she says.

Whether it’s financial aid or outside scholarships, everything must meet NCAA guidelines.

“It’s a constant challenge because you have to combine federal regulations, institutional policies, and the NCAA/ACC bylaws,” says Sajonas.


And when those complex requirements are blended with the time crunch that comes with being student-athletes, the team often finds itself quite literally running from point A to point B.

“Student-athletes have all the same anxieties as other students, but they also have intense time demands placed on them,” says Graves, who recalls catching up with one student-athlete near the Barracks’s Road Shopping Center.

“It was the only time he could meet me to get a signature,” she says.

“I started out walking from Carruthers, and he started heading my way from McCue, and we met in the middle. They have very little ‘free time’, so we make an effort to be flexible and work with them. This ensures we are able to assist them with what they need.”

Once upon a time, Sajonas was the lone Athletic Aid team member. Two years ago, Graves was hired, and Clem came on board in April 2017.

All three agree: the job can be stressful and tiring, but they really love what they do.

That enthusiasm is not lost on the coaches at UVA.

“It’s not just me and my assistant coaches who put in the work,” says Steve Garland, Head Wrestling Coach.

“Financial aid helps us turn over every stone in hopes we can find every last cent for these families. It is a total team effort.”

When coaches call, says Sajonas, the Athletic Aid team is at the ready, as their needs are nearly always time-sensitive.

“You never quite know when you’ll be asked to meet with a recruit or their parents,” she explains. “The coaches call and say, ‘hey, we have some recruits coming in tomorrow, and they have questions. I’ve met many recruits and their parents Saturday mornings last fall, and it’s really gratifying to see most of them here today.”

Although Clem, Graves and Sajonas work with all 23 sports at UVA, they don’t specialize. It’s important that every team member be able to handle every part of the job for every sport. Although different sports have different equivalencies for NCAA (full scholarships, partial scholarships, or no scholarships), Clem, Graves, and Sajonas are prepared to handle all of the details, as well as questions from coaches, students, and parents.

“We have to know about various graduate and undergraduate financial aid and what’s countable and what’s not countable aid against the individual and team limits,” says Sajonas.

“We’re always learning, too – but always, our aim is to get the financial piece cleared up so the students can focus on academics and competing. They shouldn’t have to worry about how they’re going to pay their bill,” says Clem.

Reconciliation Schedule Change: All schools and units now have 30 days to reconcile projects

Starting with November’s reconciliations, all schools and units will have 30 days to reconcile their projects (expenditure and revenue).

You’ve been asking for a different timeframe, and we listened! Already, about 65% of the active projects in Recon@ have an approved alternate reconciliation schedule (due 30 days after month-end close). Changing the deadline for everyone will eliminate the need for such special requests. It will also reduce administrative burden, allowing more time to complete reconciliations and eliminating the need to submit official paperwork to have their deadlines changed.

For a bit of background, the current deadline of the 15th calendar day was chosen when reconciliations were done on paper and a tighter deadline helped prevent fraud. Now that we have systems such as Recon@ and ExpenseUVA, the quick turnaround time is not as crucial.

This policy update means that monthly reconciliations will be due 30 days after month-end close for the previous month’s activity (i.e. November reconciliations will be due December 30th). If your unit prefers to reconcile within 15 days because you have a process in place, that is fine.

View the new policy here. (Note: Procedures linked within the policy have not yet been updated to reflect the change.)

Click here for more information on Recon@ system generated emails.

Questions? Concerns? Please let us know; we’re happy to help. Email recon@virginia.edu.

Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services: Office space renovation ahead

New ductwork and office space reconfiguration will require staff in Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services to temporarily relocate mid-December through mid-February. Most PSDS staff will be working from locations off Grounds, while some staff will remain in Carruthers Hall in temporary spaces.

Day to day interactions with PSDS will remain largely unaffected; even though staff will physically be relocated, current email and phone numbers will stay the same. Staff working off-site will have regularly scheduled on-Grounds days, but in person meeting opportunities may be fewer. This is a good opportunity to take advantage of Skype for Business if you haven’t already!

If you have specific questions about how this process may impact your interactions with PSDS, please contact Lori Ponton.

New from ResearchUVA

ResearchUVA Interest at State Higher Ed Conference

ResearchUVA's senior leads, Chris DiVita and Vonda Durrer, were in Richmond on October 19 to showcase the system at a statewide conference on Innovation in Higher Education. ResearchUVA sparked a lot of interest from event attendees on a variety of topics, including why UVA decided to build a system in-house rather than purchase an out-of-the-box solution.  

Learn more about what people were interested in hearing about ResearchUVA here.  

Click the image to view the ResearchUVA team's poster
from Richmond.

ResearchUVA: Extract Intelligence from ResearchUVA using Juice

On October 30, the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) launched Juice, ResearchUVA's data analytics and visualization platform, developed to give the UVA community up-to-date insight and facilitate data-driven decision-making in UVA’s research enterprise. Data is indispensable when it comes to developing research strategy and making investments, at the same time as being critical to achieving research compliance and mitigating risk. Training sessions are scheduled for November, and OSP recommends spending time reviewing the Using Juice information as well as the FAQs so users are able to extract accurate information from the app.

Learn more here

Annual UVAFinance Food Drive: Making Thanksgiving brighter for Charlottesville-Albemarle area

Thanks to the generosity of the teams in Carruthers Hall, Fontaine, and O’Neil Hall, 27 bags of groceries and $520 will be contributed to the Community Feast Project. These donations will be delivered to needy families in our area this weekend.


Thank you to everyone who donated, and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

UVAFinance Salutes our Veterans

In honor of Veteran’s Day, UVAFinance recognizes our teammates who have served our country. We are proud to call you our colleague.

Click here to view.

Attention UVAFinance: It’s time to mingle and jingle!

It's that time again:  Mark your calendar!

Please make plans to join your colleagues at the annual UVAFinance Holiday Party! Held this year on December 20, from 2-4:30 pm at Alumni Hall, the gathering will feature great food, fun activities, and lots of prizes (just like last year, only even better and more fun!). 

We will also hold the Gingerbread Contest again this year – watch for more information on that a couple of weeks before the event.

Questions? Contact the Employee Engagement Committee at finance_engagement@virginia.edu


See pictures from last year’s event. Doesn’t this look like fun? Don’t miss it!

From Melody's Desk: What's Next for UVAFinance?

Dear Colleagues,

You may have heard that finance will be one of the next areas of emphasis as UVA continues its goal towards organizational excellence. Just as UVA is committed to innovation in the classroom and lab, this fall, we will begin a multi-year effort to transform to the workplace of the future. This project will include modernizing our job skills and daily tasks, enhancing the great service we provide to our stakeholders and implementing state-of-the-art technology to provide excellent financial support, solve problems and build stronger connections.

The purpose of my message today is to share with you what we know about the upcoming journey as we move forward together into UVA’s third century.

The Finance Strategic Transformation

We describe the upcoming work in this way because it most accurately reflects what we want this process to be: “strategic” because we will identify the best and most impactful ways to improve how we support education, research, and patient care in a modern-day, streamlined, and dynamic workplace, and “transformation” because it’s a re-imagination of where and how we deliver services, what technology we utilize, how we are connected across the entire University and how we think of our roles on teams.

The journey we’re undertaking will be adapted to finance and to UVA; it is not modeled after any existing transformation. We are just beginning to plan and develop how future service will be delivered, what a future financial organization will look like, and how we will invest in your professional development. We haven’t defined the entire process now from start to finish but will communicate with you and all of our stakeholders frequently.

Here’s a quick rundown of what we know now about the Strategic Transformation:

• We will develop and manage the skilled and professional financial workforce needed for the future, enabling our finance teams to grow professionally. This is not a force reduction.
• We will optimize service delivery and strengthen relationships within the finance community across Grounds while identifying the best place for financial work to take place, wherever that may be located. 
• We will streamline business processes to improve outcomes and eliminate steps that do not add value. It’s about saving time and effort, enabling us to focus on mission-critical activities. 
• We will implement and support technology that will better enable us to do our jobs and allow us to deliver excellent service, to grow strategically, and to responsibly steward UVA’s resources.

I know you probably have questions, some that will not have answers yet. We will learn a lot more as we begin to plan this work. And I promise we will keep you up to date both in the UVAFinance blog and on the newly refreshed VP Finance website when it goes live later this year. You can email me and we will look to address those in future communications.

UVA has experienced a lot of transition lately and although the result is desirable and best for the University, it can still be challenging to get there. I’m glad we have an extended team of finance professionals across Grounds that I can count on to share input and ideas as things take shape. In fact, we can’t do it without you – we’ll need your participation and innovation to make this process successful and your patience and collaboration as we determine the best path forward.

So, as we embark on this journey, please join me on the ride. It may be bumpy and the path may not be clear from time to time, but I am confident that together, we will become our best.


Thanks for all you do!

Procurement: Behind the Scenes of the October 6 Bicentennial Celebration

On October 6, 1817, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and James Madison attended the ceremonial placing of UVA’s first cornerstone. On October 6, 2017, a date chosen to commemorate the placing of the cornerstone, 20,000 students and alumni attended the launch celebration of UVA’s Bicentennial.

The crowd enjoyed performances by Leslie Odom Jr., Andra Day, and the Goo Goo Dolls, were wowed by a re-enactment of the Rotunda fire of 1895 (achieved via digital mapping technology) and listened to words from Katie Couric, Rita Dove, and Ralph Sampson. A partnership with University Arts, the event featured over 800 student and faculty performers. From start to finish, the kickoff celebration was packed with talent and amazing acts.

Don't worry, this time it's a virtual fire.

It was a monumental event celebrating an incredible 200-year history. What does it take to pull together a sweeping event like this, to bring in big-names and dazzling effects, to arrange for staging and sound and lighting and seating and all of the other myriad details?

First of all, says Jody Kielbasa, UVA’s Vice Provost for the Arts and “Producing Director” of the evening’s events, it takes a massive team pulling together: the Bicentennial Staff, Facilities, Safety & Emergency Preparedness, University Police, the Office of Special Events, just to name a few.

Also working behind the scenes to orchestrate a great event? Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services, namely in the form of the dedicated service of Kevin Crabtree, Senior Buyer.

“Kevin has countless hours invested in this event,” said Kielbasa.

“Many times, I’d call him on my way in to work, clarifying details, seeking his advice, adjusting plans. He was involved with the celebration every inch of the way.”

Crabtree’s responsibility was to negotiate and purchase everything from effects such as the Rotunda “fire” to video screens and staging, to the entire slate of over 800 performers (this includes managing all of their particular needs, including maintaining the correct temperature for the dancers to perform and handling all the rider requirements for the big-name talent).

The Martha Graham Dance Company was just one of the many
performances brought in for the kickoff event.

“Supporting the purchasing needs for this event for the past year has been one of the most challenging projects that I have been involved in,” said Crabtree.

“For the year leading up to the celebration, we were continually negotiating contracts and resolving contractual issues. There were so many moving parts and everything changed as we progressed. With every tweak we made, there was a waterfall effect,” he said.

An example of that waterfall effect is the addition of extra screens on stage. It seems simple, but that addition changed the allotted setup/breakdown time on the Lawn, and impacted the budgeted technician hours, the rehearsal time, and even meals to be provided to the technicians.

“It was a continual cascading of negotiations on every decision we modified,” said Crabtree.

And those modifications were frequent, said Kielbasa, due to the size and scope of the project.

“There were so many unknowns,” he said.

“A year out, we had to develop a budget and look down the road and try to anticipate all the challenges that might arise. We were working with two sound stages, hundreds and hundreds of performers, and two site locations, the Lawn and the John Paul Jones Arena as a rain site,” he added.

With all of the incredible complexity of the event, Kielbasa says Procurement’s help was invaluable.

“There is no way we could’ve done this without them. Their work was absolutely necessary. They helped us with challenging negotiations with our vendors and made sure we stayed reasonably in budget. They were with us the entire way.”

For Crabtree’s part, he was happy to be a part of the process, but also relieved that the initial event has come and gone with success. He offered this advice to anyone else on Grounds planning purchases:

“Get Procurement involved early in the process. We can provide easier paths to solutions that we might not have if we’re pulled in later in the process.”


See photos of the Bicentennial Launch Celebration

Read more about the Bicentennial Launch Celebration

UVA’s Bicentennial Website

UVA's Bicentennial Story Page

UBI Training Developers' Roundtable

With the growing transition towards full adoption of the UBI reporting tool across the University, the number of UBI users surpassed those still using Discoverer. And the trend doesn’t appear to be slowing down as the days get closer to the planned Discoverer sunset for SIS reporting in Discoverer. For a “behind the scenes” perspective of those who are helping users with UBI adoption, we sat down and spoke with the team of UBI Training Developers, Matt Douglas, Linda Leshowitz, and Christopher Birkl -whose roles are to guide users into leveraging UBI for data reporting.


Talk about your role as UBI Training Developers and how you promote UBI to the University.

MATT DOUGLAS
Our role as Training Developers is to foster adoption through a forward-facing role, so getting people comfortable with the tool enough to where they’re able to able to take off and use it in their day-to-day experience.

LINDA LESHOWITZ
Absolutely, I would agree. Helping them feel comfortable with the new tool, encouraging them to use it, and pointing out how it can have advantages for them – because it’s faster and can ease the path of getting the data. Sometimes when you first look at UBI it is quite a bit different from Discoverer, so you may not recognize that at first. In our role, we can point those things out, whether it be in the classroom, when we answer questions on the Community, or in Office Hours.

CHRISTOPHER BIRKL
As trainers, the initial thought is, “Okay, they teach the classes, they do the intro training, the advanced training,” but we play a huge support role, as well.

LESHOWITZ
That’s true, because we wear so many hats. Even just in email and phone communication. I like that part, because you develop some personal relationships with some of the users, and that’s a nice byproduct of training.

BIRKL
And you’re addressing specific situations.

LESHOWITZ
Right…that helps them do their job better, more efficiently.

What are the steps you usually go through when you’re working towards a new UBI release?

BIRKL
First of all, we have to understand what’s coming. We meet with the Reporting team, they give us an outline of what modules are coming, or planned to come –

DOUGLAS
That’s usually a lot of talking back and forth on not just about the modules, but “Why would somebody use this?”

BIRKL
We have several meetings. The initial meeting might be to show us a preview of what’s coming, and then they’ll do a follow-up meeting where we actually go through the modules. Like Matt said, we’ll discuss why users would use these modules. Obviously, the modules are still in development at that point.

LESHOWITZ
Then usually, we will get together as a team and then decide who’s going to do what. We’ll make assignments, depending on what people are doing – we usually do that very smoothly. We update the mapping tool, which requires getting input from the reporting team, and checking Discoverer to see what the crosswalk is.

DOUGLAS
From the time that they’re planning their release to the point where we can actually start working on creating content for the release, there’s a huge space there. Once we learn the module(s) and we’re tracking its development, then everything is pretty quiet up until the point where the module development is frozen. Then we know when everything in there is permanent and we can begin to build resources off the module. Then things get busy.

LESHOWITZ
I often try to have a “skeleton” beforehand, especially if there’s a really packed week, the week of development. Like Matt was saying, it’s a pretty short timeframe that we have to turn around our guides and get up to speed. You have to be really careful because there can be changes right up to before UBI is released.

BIRKL
These are our Quick Reference Guides, mainly. That iterative approach that we take - we’re working on creating content all the way up until the day of the release. As Matt said, once the module content is set in stone, it gets busy. That’s why we target Wednesday after a module release – three to four days after a module is released – to have our materials out, available and ready to go. That means they’re accurate and timely, too.

LESHOWITZ
We post those [Quick Reference Guides] on the UBI Community. We often get access to the modules in the Quality Assurance (QA) environment, but again, there can be changes. We have to be careful how much we develop beforehand. You have to be really flexible. Sometimes there will be something planned, and you’re assigned to it, and a few days later there’s a very legitimate reason for it to be pulled from the release and moved to the next release. So you just roll with it.

With eLearning that will replace in-person training, what are your thoughts on that development – and what is some of the feedback you’ve received?

BIRKL
It’s exciting. We’ve made a lot of improvements with the SIS eLearning version and have applied those to the Finance version as well.

LESHOWITZ
What I really like about eLearning is you can recommend the courses as a refresher class. So even if you’ve taken an in-person Intro class, you now have the opportunity to learn self-paced, when you have the time and to review the topics you need to review – you decide. I like being able to offer that option to users. I think there are a lot of folks that like being able to do that at their own pace.

DOUGLAS
From a workforce perspective, it’s better in the long run for management to be able to say, “Hey, do this when you can, take a half-hour each day.” This makes it a lot easier to manage your workforce.

LESHOWITZ
Especially with new people coming onboard, we don’t want them to have to wait for a face-to-face class. Now if you have one or two new people in your department, who can just take it immediately.

DOUGLAS
I think one of the things that surprises most people is how far eLearning has come and the quality it presents. At least that’s the feedback I’ve gotten so far.

What do you find most rewarding in your role of helping promote UBI throughout the University?

DOUGLAS
I’d say the most rewarding part of being able to train UBI is when I see a user actually gets it. When you see that light go off on their head and they realize, “Oh, if I can do this…” then they start taking it further. “I can go X, Y, and Z, too, right?” And I love being able to see users thinking critically about it and being self-motivated to take it from here. I enjoy that part.

LESHOWITZ
I like it when they get excited about UBI. Like what you were saying, Matt – when they get excited about what they can do with UBI, and they’re ready to take that leap into a new reporting system. What’s particularly rewarding - whether it’s a class, Office Hours or whatever it might be - and someone sends a thank you email. It could be thanking you for your help, helping them resolve something [in UBI], or just that they’re excited about UBI and thanking you for the class instruction. That’s very rewarding and makes you feel good about what you’re doing.

BIRKL
Along the same lines, the knowledge that I was able to effectively help and show this user and make it click for them – they get excited. They can also take it further. That’s the biggest thing for me.
___________________________________________

Already a UBI User?

Get more information in the UBI Community.

New to UBI? Get Access and Training

You will need to sign up for the Intro to UBI – (GA/GL or SIS) focus course in order to gain access to UBI. Go to the UBI Training page to register for an available Intro to UBI – (GA/GL or SIS) training session.

Additionally, it is suggested but not required, that you begin the ESHARP access prior to attending training. View the Get Started page to learn more.

Additions to the Office of Sponsored Programs

This October, the Office of Sponsored Programs filled two key positions.  We are pleased to introduce these new team members to you!

Gareth Evans

Gareth Evans has joined the Office of Sponsored Programs as Associate Director of Post-Award. In this role, Evans will oversee the Post Award Financial Management team and will be responsible for financial management of sponsored award portfolios.  He has twelve years of experience in university research administration, spread across three highly reputable institutions on two continents.

Gareth Evans, Associate Director
of Post-Award

His most current position was Associate Director of Research, Department of Pediatrics at Stanford University.  He had held that position since July 2013, managing a sponsored research budget of $50M and a team of 8 grant administrators. In that role, he designed and implemented a centralized post award research support structure focused on a metrics-based workload model and incorporated process mapping and documenting operating procedures.

Prior to Stanford University, Evans worked in research administration at University College, London (2005-2011) and Georgetown University, DC (2011-2013). He has participated in designing and implementing university-wide research administration systems for effective management of research applications, expenditure trends, procurement, research governance and project closeouts with greater transparency and accuracy.

Considered a subject matter expert, Evans has participated in speaking and other engagements held by the National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA).  He has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Research Administration Certification Council (RACC), which is responsible for the oversight of the administration of the organization, as well as the validity of its portfolio of examinations and professional certifications within the field of research administration.

Gareth will be setting up meetings with research administrators across Grounds, but if you are at Carruthers, please stop by to say “hi” to him.

Andrew Sallans

Andrew Sallans joined the Office of Sponsored Programs as the Assistant Director of Electronic Research Administration. 

In this role, Sallans will help UVA further establish and commit to electronic research administration as a “Research I” institution as well as become a data-driven research enterprise. Sallans will undertake strategic and operational work on the OSP Info Team, developing reports, ensuring data quality, increasing data fluency, benchmarking best practices at peers, connecting UVA’s internal data sets to valuable external data sets in the research arena, ensuring compliance with regulations involving Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI)-related data, promoting UVA’s participation in UMETRICS (http://iris.isr.umich.edu/) as well as advancing ResearchUVA (including the data analytics and visualization platform, Juice).

Andrew Sallans, Assistant Director
of Electronic Research Administration

Sallans has an M.S., Management of Information Technology from UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce and an M.S., Library and Information Studies, Concentrations: IT Management & Information Architecture, from Florida State University.

His most recent position was Director of Operations at the Center for Open Science, a nationally-influential nonprofit technology organization based in Charlottesville with a mission “to increase the openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research.”  In that role, Sallans was responsible for all business operations, including sponsored programs administration.  He has also held multiple positions within UVA, including head of data strategic initiatives for the UVA Library.

Sallans has significant experience presenting to a wide range of audiences, contributing to professional journals and books, and service in organizational, regional, and national professional groups.  He also has experience as a PI on several grants.

Please stop by Carruthers and welcome him back to UVA.

Cleanup of old, inactive Purchase Orders in the Integrated System to begin week of November 6

Open POs with no activity in three+ years will be finally closed

Beginning the week of November 6, Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services will begin finally closing open, inactive purchase orders lingering in the Integrated System. The POs set to be finally closed are those that have had no invoicing activity in three or more years. Most of these POs have remained open because they have not been fully invoiced against, usually due to a discount being extended or a change in quantity of goods received.

This is simply an “FYI” – there is nothing you need to do at this time. Finally closing these POs should not have a negative impact on schools and units. Any money remaining on POs that are finally closed will be returned to the PTAO.

The POs are being finally closed due to PSDS’ transition to Total Supplier Management (TSM), a new solution for managing supplier registration and payment. TSM is a tool provided by Jaggaer (formerly SciQuest), the vendor who supports our UVA Marketplace, and will streamline and automate vendor registration and payment processes.

Finally closing the inactive POs will allow us to deactivate vendors no longer used by UVA. This will ensure that the vendor file will be current and accurate when we go live with TSM.

In the unlikely event that you are contacted for payment by a vendor on one of the finally closed POs, contact a buyer within PSDS for assistance.

Questions? Concerns? Let us know; we’re happy to help! 434-924-4212

Get Grounded: Learn more about UVA and UVAFinance colleagues

UVAFinance enjoyed its first "Get Grounded" event this October.
The first field trip was to the McCormick Observatory.

On October 5, 19 members of the UVAFinance team headed across Grounds to visit the McCormick observatory.  This “finance field trip” was conceived by UVAFinance’s Employee Engagement Committee as a way to build connections between colleagues and give them the opportunity to experience the places and activities at UVA they may only have seen on paper while doing their daily work.

Called “Get Grounded,” these field trip sessions are set to become a regular offering for UVAFinance staff.

For the past year, UVAFinance employees have taken advantage of Lunch and Learn sessions coordinated by the Employee Engagement Committee and Finance Outreach and Compliance.  With topics ranging from using dealing with change to using Lynda.com, Lunch and Learns are optional, informational sessions for UVAFinance employees.  According to Patty Marbury, Chair of the Employee Engagement Committee, the “Get Grounded” series is a way to take the Lunch and Learn concept on the road.

“In Finance, we are involved with so many areas at UVA.  We know a little bit about everything that’s going on, but we don’t necessarily get to see things in action,” Marbury said.

Danielle Hancock, a member of the Steering Committee, used her connections with the Astronomy department to arrange for the inaugural trip. Prior to joining UVAFinance, Danielle was a fiscal administrator in Astronomy. “The Observatory is a cool place to go on Grounds that’s out of the way and not everyone knows about,” she said.

The group got a full tour of the Observatory, learned about the weather station, viewed a 26-inch telescope used by students to learn research with astronomy, and even had the chance to view glass slides of the stars. 

Isaiah Behnke of Student Financial Services said the Observatory visit was a great experience and something he’d wanted to do for a while. For Behnke, getting a behind-the-scenes tour with his UVAFinance colleagues made it even better.

Gareth Evans of Sponsored Programs, a new employee in UVAFinance as of October 4, attended Get Grounded as a way to learn more about his new workplace. 

“The trip was fascinating,” he commented.

“The professor who led the tour was clearly very excited about his work.  Fieldtrips like these help staff to relate how our daily work supports research programs across Grounds, so I’m keen to see other areas and labs in the future,” he added.

See all the photos from the McCormick Observatory trip

Read more about the McCormick Observatory or check out one of their public night sessions.

Have an idea for a Get Grounded event?  Contact Patty Marbury or comment below!

Juice demos running this November

Learn more about working with Juice, a reporting and analytics platform for sponsored program data at UVA!

With the official launch of UVA’s Juice dashboard within ResearchUVA on Monday, October 30, the UVA research community will have access to a wealth of analytics about UVA’s research activity.

The first hour-long training sessions well be held in November, introducing attendees to the major features and capabilities of the dashboard, and highlighting how to interact with the data to see trends and details across proposals, awards, expenditures, fiscal years, sponsors, departments, and many other dimensions.

The Electronic Research Administration team from Sponsored programs will be on hand to show attendees how to answer common questions on sponsored research activities and discuss limitations of the current data and future directions for the dashboard.

No registration required.

Monday, November 6, 10:00 am, Newcomb Hall Commonwealth Room

Monday, November 13, 3:00 pm, Bavaro Hall, Room 116

SEAS and SOM: separate sessions will be held for your schools; please look for information on these sessions from your research administrators.

Visit ResearchUVA in the next few days for FAQs and reference materials about using Juice!

Give your colleagues a shout out – they could win a prize!

The “Collaborative Space” board in Carruthers Hall is a great place to show your colleagues a little appreciation: just jot a quick note on the board or use one of the “You Rock” sheets, or one of the new UVAFinance mission-specific shout out sheets.

Shout-outs on the Collaborative Space in Carruthers Hall

Beginning last month, the Employee Engagement Committee randomly draws two winners from the Collaborative board – anyone whose name is included on any kind of shoutout on the board is eligible to win, provided there’s a reason for the shout out included.

If you’re outside of Carruthers, please feel free to send your shout outs (and the reason behind them) to Brandi Van Ormer, and she will gladly post it for you.

The new “recognition raffle” will take place every Finance Shirt Friday, just like the Spirit Raffle, and after the winners are chosen each month, the board will be cleaned off for a new round of shout outs and new chances to win.

So go on, give a colleague a shout out -- It only takes a minute to recognize your co-workers and spread some encouragement!

PSDS co-hosts another great SWaMfest

SWaMfest a demonstration of UVA's commitment to small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses

Procurement and Supplier Diversity Services SWaM representatives were proud to help host the 13th annual SWaMfest, the Commonwealth’s premier event for networking, education, and professional development for small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses. 

The event is hosted yearly by the Virginia Association of State College & University Purchasing Professionals (VASCUPP), of which UVA is a member institution, with the goal of helping attendees navigate the process of doing business with Virginia and its state colleges and universities.

This year’s event was attended by more than 450 business people, who were able to connect not only with other small businesses but also with university and government personnel who can offer guidance on how to best market their goods and services to Virginia’s colleges and Universities.

In addition to a vendor fair, attendees were treated to breakout sessions on leadership and professional development, along with practical sessions on working with Virginia entities. 

SWaMfest attendees enjoy a breakout session 

Les Haughton, Director of Supplier Diversity at UVA, had the pleasure of welcoming the group on the second full day of the event.

“SWaMfest reflects our commitment to maximizing the participation of small, minority-owned, and women-owned businesses through the development of mutually beneficial business relationships,” he said.

“We believe this program has the potential to create better partners, stronger customers, and economic growth for our vendors, our schools and departments, and our community.”

Another way PSDS seeks to interact with SWaM vendors is through their free bi-monthly vendor trainings. These trainings give both current and potential vendors a better understanding of buying and paying at UVA.

The next training will be held Wednesday, November 8 (register here). For more information about UVA’s SWaM efforts, click here.

Mark your calendar: VOTE on November 7!

“We in America do not have government by the majority.  We have government by the majority who participate.” – Thomas Jefferson

Make plans to participate.  Vote on November 7.

Supervisors, please be flexible with time so that employees can make time for this important responsibility.

More information on voting in Virginia (including polling places, what’s on the ballot, etc.) HERE.

Second Annual UVAFinance Thanksgiving Food Drive

This season, UVAFinance will again be collecting food and monetary donations for the Community Feast Project.  Last year, UVAFinance put together over 12 baskets for needy families in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area, contributing to the over 200 that were distributed in total. 

Let's see if we can beat that total this year!

Items needed:  monetary donations for turkey, box of granulated sugar, brown sugar, canned yams, canned green beans, canned milk, 5 lb bag of potatoes, package of dinner rolls, box of pasta, jar/can of turkey gravy, box of stuffing, can of cranberry, cake mix, cake frosting.

Collection boxes will be located throughout Carruthers Hall -- be on the lookout.  When you bring an item, mark it off the list that will be affixed to the collection box.  Cash donations can be submitted to Stacey Rittenhouse or Nicole Ferretti in the VP Finance Suite.

All donations are due no later than Wednesday, November 16.

Thank you for your generosity!

From the Rockies to the Blue Ridge: New Director of Payroll Services at UVA

Paul Grisdale has been very busy since joining the UVAFinance Team as Director of Payroll Services on September 25th. During his first week on board, he has spent much of his time meeting people and learning more about his stakeholders and their unique needs as the University and the Health System take up payroll as a shared process.

In his new role, Grisdale will lead the ONE Payroll Services Team, which will encompass UVA’s academic division, the medical center, and the physicians group.

Grisdale, a Detroit-area native, comes to UVA from Colorado, where he managed payroll in both the Community College System and Colorado State University. 

Paul Grisdale,
Director of Payroll Services

He is no stranger to massive organizational change.

“Most of my career has been implementing new systems and coming up with best practices,” he said.

Grisdale has led many projects involving the streamlining of processes and collaborative, centralized work. When he looks back at his career so far, he’s most proud of times he’s been able to help build things that didn’t exist before – for instance, a central payroll office for Community Colleges of Colorado.

The office he established delivered great service to all 14 entities in the system and leveraged technology to give employees access to things they’d never had before, such as reporting.

Complicating this particular change was the fact that those 14 schools in the Community College system had very different cultures: some were in little farming towns, and some were in urban areas. Grisdale found that any work he could do that helped him to understand those cultural differences and individual needs was very worthwhile, and he’s been applying that principle to his new role at UVA.

“I’ve made it a priority to be out and about, learning what each area is doing now and who their audiences are, and finding out what the needs are,” he said.

Grisdale was attracted to UVA because he saw a unique opportunity to use what he’s learned about organization-wide change, working on teams, and delivering great customer service: “UVA is a world-renowned University, seeking to provide an equally great payroll and HR service. I want to be part of that.”

He added that it’s exciting to get to leverage not only new technology but also the knowledge of experts in the three different areas at UVA, to find better ways to deliver payroll to all employees.

Grisdale will soon be joined in Virginia by his wife Rebecca and their three children, all of whom are excited about their new home. He acknowledges that it’s quite a change. “Colorado is beautiful, but in Colorado, you can drive for hours and you’re still most likely in Colorado. Here, there’s so much to see, and so many interesting things to do,” he said.

An avid fly fisherman, Grisdale said he looks forward to exploring what that hobby is like in his new home.

Amidst all the change that has been a part of his professional life, Grisdale says one thing has remained true: “I have had great teams in all of my endeavors, and we have that at UVA, too. There’s always ups and downs, but with a great team, you can achieve so much.”

Yvonne Metheny and the joy of being well-rounded

Yvonne Metheny has taken on a lot of projects in her 9 years in UVAFinance. Her official title is “Accounting and Financial Analyst,” but if you ask anyone with whom she’s worked, that title is deceiving. Yvonne, they say, can do just about anything:

“She’s a jack of all trades.”

“She just overhears you struggling with something and offers to help.”

“She’s willing to take on anything you give her.”

“She takes 20 minutes to find something that would take me hours.”

“She’s a go-to person, a problem-solver.”

“I can give her anything, and, with very minimal questions, she’ll get it done.”

Metheny is a lot of things, but she’s not a specialist. . . . Unless diversification counts as a specialty.

Metheny says she never really wanted to be an accountant. In college, she started with some accounting courses and did well in them, but she joined the Air Force and turned her attention to computers. Eventually, she earned her Bachelors’ degree in teaching and education (business education). A short stint teaching high school classes wasn’t a good fit, so she went back and got an MBA with a specialty in accounting.

While working in the field of accounting, Metheny says she’s tried a little bit of everything: debt accounting, cost accounting, and everything in between. She’s been very “behind the scenes,” even by accounting standards, double-checking department postings and ensuring that everything is correct, closing old projects so schools and units can see their financial situation more clearly, helping set up new software systems, and helping her colleagues navigate UBI.

Metheny’s supervisor, Senior Associate Comptroller Randy Ellis, described how Metheny recently came to him when he was working through a 68-tab spreadsheet that would be submitted to the State. He was working under a tight deadline and the work was painstakingly tedious.

“Yvonne came into my office and said, ‘let me know what I can do,’ so I gave her the piece of the spreadsheet involving UVA’s ten foundations,” Ellis said.

“She worked four long days on it, and then gave it back to me 95% complete,” said Ellis. The report was submitted to the State accurately and on time.

“I like puzzles,” Metheny said.

“I like the challenge of solving problems, and things that are new and different. I like learning the answers and teaching others.”

Indeed, for a person who decided early in her career that “teaching wasn’t her thing,” she has, in fact, done a lot of teaching.

Colleague Josh Breeden says that even when Metheny doesn’t know the answer, she takes on the challenge to find out. “You know if you say, ‘hey, Yvonne,’ – you’re probably halfway there. She can at least point you in the right direction,” he said.

Metheny’s career in accounting so far has defied her early expectations of the field. What she thought of as a day to day, same old, same old job has been much more fulfilling than she ever expected, and the reason for that, she says, is because she’s tried so many different things and found what she really likes to do.

“I’ve been very lucky because I’ve been allowed the opportunities to find the right fit for me. I’ve had supervisors at UVA who’ve allowed me to find, in effect to make the right job for me,” she said.

Metheny points out that the world of business changes all the time, and “you have to embrace it, even though it might be out of your comfort zone.”

She says she’s been vocal with her managers about what she’d like to do, what problems she’d like to fix, and also to keep her in mind for projects and positions that match her skill set. Through this openness, and her willingness to regularly try something different, Metheny says she’s developed a wide range of skills.

“Ultimately,” she commented, “the best fit for me is also the best fit for the University. When people are in the right roles doing what fulfills them, great things happen.”

The sun has set . . . how did it go?

The sun set on Discoverer reporting for GA, GL, and LD on August 30 -- an event we'd been working toward for what seemed like such a long time.  The UBI team recently polled those users who were involved in the sunset, asking them some key questions on their satisfaction with the process, including communication and support.

A walkthrough of the survey results is posted on UBIC.

Spoiler alert:  most respondents reported that the sunset experience was a positive one for them and that the dedicated support of Area Champions was a key factor in the transition's success.

Check out the rest of the survey results for more interesting responses, and an opportunity to share your thoughts on the sunset.

Thank you to everyone involved in this process!  Your feedback has been (and will continue to be) invaluable!

ePRF Training for ResearchUVA users

UVA’s move to the electronic routing of all sponsored program proposals is well underway; the successful rollout of the electronic Proposal Routing Form (ePRF) has been a key indicator of the research community’s support for this transition.

OSP has seen strong voluntary adoption of the ePRF by schools, with some utilizing it almost exclusively as of the July 1 soft rollout (a big shout out to SEAS on this commitment). At the end of July, 84% of all ePRFs had been generated from the field. As of September 27, 98% of ePRFs for the month have been generated by the schools themselves.

In response to this overwhelmingly favorable uptake by the research community, usage of the ePRF is mandatory as of October 1. 

Training Availability

We’ve already completed two training sessions and will schedule more over the coming months. We’ve posted upcoming sessions, a comprehensive list of FAQs and other ePRF-related content on the ResearchUVA website, with an online training presentation coming soon.

Next session:  Tuesday, October 24:  Zehmer Hall Lounge, 12 - 1 pm.  LUNCH PROVIDED!
Register here.

TravelUVA login page changes

Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) has changed the look of the TravelUVA “AirPortal” login screen as of Monday, October 2, 2017.  Although the page looks different, the changes in functionality are minimal.  

Basically, you will now click on the left side of the page instead of the right. Below are instructions to find your way around the new page.

Log in to TravelUVA from http://www.procurement.virginia.edu/pageTravelandExpense - (no changes here)

To Book a Trip Online click on the Suitcase Icon.

Then click Book/Manage Online Trips

This will take you to the main page of TravelUVA/ Concur where you can begin booking travel as usual.

Please contact the Travel and Expense Services Team with any questions - Travel@virginia.edu or 434-924-4212 ext. 2.

Travel & Expense Wins a "Chromie"

The Travel & Expense Chromie up close

Chrome River, the company who provides the software platform for ExpenseUVA, recently awarded Dolores Hildebrand of the Travel & Expense Team in PSDS with a “Chromie Award.”  

Hildebrand was chosen to receive the Chromie because, out of all of Chrome River’s 600+ customers, UVA submitted the most system modification requests.  When presenting the award, Chrome River said that UVA’s system modification requests helped improve the system and enhanced the experience for all their customers.

In the past 12 months alone, during ExpenseUVA development, testing, deployment and continued use, 158 requests for change based on user feedback have been submitted and completed by Chrome River. 

Hildebrand said, “The Travel and Expense Team, our ITS partners, and all the ExpenseUVA Ambassadors have worked hard to gather input from expense owners, fiscal contacts, and administrators.  We hope the outreach we have done to find out what users need have provided our customers with a system that meets their needs.”